Jenny Bathurst: “being afraid of my own ignorance is certainly not the way forward”

I have always rather shied away from writing about our planet and the fight to preserve the environment. Not because I haven’t been bothered or thought it wasn’t important enough - rather the opposite. I suppose I have been so aware of its importance but so ignorant on the topic that I didn’t dare add my voice to the conversation that already contains so many educated and knowledgable ones. It seems like the sort of subject that you can never stop and say ‘OK, I think I know what I need to know about this now’ and move on, as new research and projects are constantly being implemented and granted. And perhaps that’s what scares me - firstly, knowing that I’ll never understand as much about climate change and environmental concerns as many, but also that educating myself seems such a big first step that I wonder whether I’ll ever make sense of any of it.

So when I began to see the ‘Willow Project’ all over my social media pages, I didn’t quite know how to respond. Should I just scroll past and leave these upset, angry influencers be, or should I research and form my own opinion. And I suppose I chose a sort of in-between of those options. I certainly looked it up and tried to understand the basics, but I’d be lying if I could sit here and reel off its exact implications. The Willow Project appears to be an oil development strategy based in Alaska with an aim to drill for oil on public land. My Tik Tok page has been filled with users suggesting that not only is this devastating in the here and now, many in floods of tears, but also suggesting that in thirty years, this could mean the end of society.

Now I’m not suggesting that I was in the same state of shock and fear as many of these influencers appear to be, but of course it did cause me to think. Perhaps selfishly, it mainly caused me to think of my own knowledge and part in preserving the planet. I know it is entirely irresponsible to stick my fingers in my ears and pretend that the environment is picture perfect, but perhaps it is the fear of not knowing enough about the topic that frightens me. I want to learn and educate myself, but equally not berate myself when there are elements that don’t make immediate sense. We are always learning and always growing, and being afraid of my own ignorance is certainly not the way forward to being a diligent and caring citizen of our beautiful planet.